Originally published by Two Thousand in 2014
Lately I’ve been storming out of pubs within minutes of heading to the bar. Blame it on me not recognising any of the four thousand beers on tap, or me trying to order something on the menu that isn’t loaded with buzzwords that mean nothing. No, I don’t want a cajun sourdough pulled pork po’ boy slider pizza and even more no, I don’t want to try four tiny glasses of beer that taste like chai served on a wooden paddle. I want a schooner, a bag of chips and I want a pub to just be a fuckin’ pub.
You remember that feeling when you first walked into The Clare Hotel in 2002, frantically trying to decide which gross old couch you were going to spend the next four hours on, nervously clutching a beer you were ready to neck in case somebody came to I.D. you? Or the first time those significantly older mates took you to the Hollywood and you had the late night epiphany that there are literally hundreds of beers that are better than Coopers Green? Those memories come flooding back within seconds of arriving at Redfern’s newest bar, The Bearded Tit.
You may have seen the woollen dicks with tits out the front and thought “I’m not sure if I’m a woollen dicks with tits kind of guy”, but you’ll be quickly won over by The Bearded Tit’s loud and proud aesthetic. It’s somehow no nonsense while being 100% nonsense at the same time. There’s a sense of order in the millions of trinkets and artworks that adorn every inch of the walls. The owners have had this space for two years and I’d wager they spent most of those years deciding which trinket should go where, working out the perfect spot for the boar’s head with a trumpet in his mouth.
There’s no nonsense behind the bar. Three beers flow happily from the tap – Reschs, Peroni and Angry Man Pale Ale – aka you, your mate who works in accounting and your sweet wanker friend who paints for a living. There’s some seriously good cocktails and the menu is made up of bits and pieces you can buy from local food spots. We didn’t see the word ‘artisan’ written once.
The Bearded Tit calls itself a lot of things. A bar, a gallery, a creative space, a happy place. Above all though, The Tit is one thing – a great pub. The kind of place you can enter at 5pm and within what seems like seconds, last drinks are being called and you have three new best mates.
